d the aqueduct of Elvas.

Here the clear, cool waters glided over a rocky bed, and when they had
quenched their thirst, the ladies found time to look around. On
either hand they were shut in by masses of rock, which, with their
stratified and fractured lines, resembled walls, the rude masonry of
giants. A projecting crag shut out from sight the stream above them;
but, attracted by the sound of falling waters, they pushed their way
by a few careful steps round it, and full in view, and close at hand,
the stream fell over a ledge of rock in a beautiful cascade,
descending at once twenty feet into a rock-girdled pool, which in the
course of ages it had hollowed out for itself. Here the water ran
eddying round, as lingering on a spot it loved, and loath to resume
its onward course.

The perpetually falling waters fanned and freshened the noonday air;
while overhead, on every ledge that gave footing to their roots, the
myrtle and lauristinus, mingled with the oleander, the rhododendron
ponticum, and other evergreen shrubs, fed by the fostering moisture of
the atmosphere, almost to the size of trees, spread out their
luxurious branches to shut out each straggling sunbeam, and deepen the
shade of the narrow dell almost to twilight. It was a cavern, with
its vaulted roof removed, laying it gently open to the light of day,
without its glare. The wood-pigeon amidst the boughs mingled his
plaintive notes with the murmur of the falling water, and the speckled
trout sported in the pool--now displaying his glistening scales at the
surface, then suddenly and coyly hiding in some deep and dark recess.

Lady Mabel stood in silent, motionless delight, drinking in with eye,
and ear, and breath, the thrilling sensations crowding on her in this
enchanted spot. The exclamation in which Mrs. Shortridge's admiring
surprise found vent, jarred on her young companions' nerves, and
seemed to break a mystic spell.

The ladies were still wondering at the chance which had led them to
this spot, so cool, shady and refreshing after their fatigues, and so
charming in its happy grouping of wild, picturesque, and romantic
features on a miniature scale, when one of L'Isle's servants stepped
from behind the projecting crag, and spread a cloth over a large
fragment of rock, the stratified surface of its upper side making no
inconvenient table. Then, bringing forward a large basket, he lost no
time in setting forth the materials of a light but elegant rep